Inspire the Youth, Inspire the World

Sadhguru touches upon the importance of creating a situation where the world’s youth are focus and inspired, if we want to make this planet a better place to live in.

Article

Nov 21, 2011

Questioner: Sadhguru, both India and the UN celebrated Children’s Day recently – what message do you have for us regarding the youth of this nation and the world?

Sadhguru: The youth are more alive than you, more idealistic than you and more inspired than you. If the world was guided by the young, the world would be a better place to live. Because they are in a certain level of high-energy compared to the other part of the humanity, it is just that every little thing that they do is little exaggerated. If something constructive has to happen in the world, it has to be by the youth. If something destructive has to happen in the world, it too has to be by the youth.

Actually, it would be wonderful if this world were guided by little children because they’re closer to life than anybody else. After all, everything you wish to do is for human well-being. Human well-being means human happiness. If you look at your children and yourself, your children are definitely a lot happier than you are. This being the case, children should be consultants on life and not you. You are carried away by your thoughts and emotions; they’re much closer to life. If only the world learned from children rather than trying to teach children, the world would be a beautiful place.

The youth is in a certain state of high energy and if there is no inspiration or proper guidance, that energy can very easily turn negative.

Usually the older generation handle youth as some kind of disease that needs treatment. They don’t need treatment. It is people who have gone away from life who need treatment. Those close to life just live. The youth is in a certain state of high energy and if there is no inspiration or proper guidance, that energy can very easily turn negative.

Our educative systems have become 100% informative, there is no inspiration. Without inspiration, no human being raises beyond the limitations in which he lives. When it’s all information you can get it from anywhere. You don’t really have to listen to a teacher.

A teacher is not the best means of transmission when it comes to pure information. A book is better, the internet is even better. Only if the teacher’s role is to inspire people to learn and to create a thirst for knowledge, only then a teacher’s role has something to give. If he’s just trying to transmit information, the other means of transmission are better than a human being because a human being can always misinterpret. Making the whole education system purely informational has caused enormous damage. The time of life when you’re youthful, when you’re capable of many things, unfortunately goes waste simply because the necessary inspiration is not there.

It’s like nurturing a plant, if you want it to bear fruit, you have to nurture it everyday, you have to water it everyday, and you have to take care of it everyday. If this dedication is shown by adults, the youth will do miraculous things. Only because such dedication is missing in the general population, the youth seem to be disoriented - they don’t know what to do and they are doing their own things. Because everybody is working on short-term goals, the youth also work on short-term goals.

One big thing that needs to happen with the youth and with everybody is that their identification with humanity should not be limited to just themselves, it should include a larger society and a larger world around them. Unfortunately, this is missing in education. Modern education is constantly training people to only think about themselves and nothing but themselves. The whole process of science is only about how to use everything for our comfort and well being. Initially, we use the planet, then the trees and plants, then the animals, then of course the human beings also. We exploit everybody to our benefit and comfort. This attitude has been deeply set with the process of modern education.

As we are investing our time, resources and energies in transmitting informative knowledge, we have to invest a certain amount of time, energy and resources to inspire the youth. If this happens then the world would become a truly beautiful place.